Swift Software Demonstration and Experimentation Facility

The Swift’s primary purpose is to demonstrate Lockheed Martin’s capabilities to existing and potential customers and to run demonstrations during the proposal and development phases of programs which Lockheed Martin UK - Integrated Systems & Solutions is supporting.

The facility helps customers transform 21st Century military and government operations through system integration and leveraging the capabilities of current and future systems, sensors and platforms using innovative processes, advanced technologies and analysis.

What is the Swift mission?Lockheed Martin is responding to clear statements of customer need in the UK market:

For a transformation in the customer’s working relationship with industry, one which is aimed at greater transparency and requiring in an investment in behaviour, organisational, and business process levels.

To promote greater interaction and collaboration between defence, industry and the universities to stimulate innovation in science, technology and engineering.

Embrace the use of open architectural principles and incremental acquisition principles throughout the supply chain, and help the customer to find more cost effective solutions to technology insertion.

Provides an environment and acts as catalyst for innovative thinking and evaluation in cooperation with industrial partners, both commercial and defence, to identify new and creative ways to solve current customer problems.

Provides a collaborative and cooperative environment for Lockheed Martin as a systems and capability integrator.

Provides the agility to rapidly address issues and prototype solutions.

Based on Lockheed Martin’s experiences within their Lighthouse and similar facilities, and their successes through the Concept Car programme, the above attributes and in particular the ability to rapidly address issues and prototype solutions has proven invaluable in aiding customer visualisation of the problem space and associated solutions. The philosophy of "try before you buy" allows operators, users, and stakeholders to visualise the results prior to commitment of resource.

Lockheed Martin has concentrated on providing a facility for pan government use. The Swift is a multifaceted facility which provides many tools to assist the customer in navigating their way through the full capability acquisition cycle – from concepts to disposal – and within the customers’ very clear need for a ‘whole life’ construct.